So my approach to vocabulary has been to learn the meanings of kanji and then use those meanings to create ways to remember certain words, particularly those that don’t have a close meaning to the characters they’re made up of.
​
This has allowed me to learn a decent bit of vocab but I’m having a lot of trouble remembering how those words sound, which can be a big hinderance towards enjoying things like anime or video games.
​
Is the remedy to this simply immersing myself a ton in audio, while reading a script and then eventually getting how words sound? Or is there a better intervention to this, like getting one of those kanji DS games?
7 comments
If you’re into like anki, you can flashcard those words and make it so you have to type in the sound components? Wanikani basically makes me do that and it seems to be pretty helpful for me. I remember stuff better.
You can also try reading out loud or say the words out loud while doing your flashcards. My partner is a native speaker and a big proponent of say the words loudly and use them as soon as you learn them because that’s how he learned English. I’d go to him like check out this word I learned! And he will often suggest I use it in a sentence immediately so I’ll remember better.
Of course lots of listening will never be a wrong choice! I remember words I’ve heard in songs or from dramas I’ve watched. Like when reading I sometimes sort of sing talk some of the words to the tunes of the songs I’ve heard them in!
First of all, have you studied the difference between onyomi and kunyomi? These are different types of readings (on is Chinese derived and kin is native Japanese etymology) and most kanji have at least one of each. Many have more than one, but of those that do, there is usually one on and one kun that come out on top as the most frequent.
On and kun have different uses and there are rules that you can learn to determine which to use when. There are a healthy amount of exceptions, but the rules still apply about 80 or 90% of the time.
On top of your current mnemonic study method, when you learn a new word, figure out which part of the reading applies to which kanji. Create a mnemonic to help you remember the reading specific to the kanji. This can help you make an educated guess on how other words that contain the same kanji are read, for example:
The onyomi of 先 is sen. One of the principal uses of onyomi is for jukugo (kanji compound words). Knowing that, I can look at the following words:
先生 先月 先週 先日 先輩
And I can make an educated (and in this case, 100% correct) guess that all of these words begin with “sen.”
As you learn the readings of more and more kanji you will also begin to notice when a kanji appears as a radical appears inside a more complex kanji, and signals the reading. For example, the onyomi of 生 is “sei.” The kanji 星, 性 and 制 all contain 生 as a radical and they also use the onyomi “sei”.
Are you doing RTK stuff or are you actually remembering words? Event better are you using a structured textbook like Genki or similar. Anime and games are far down the line for you.
> This has allowed me to learn a decent bit of vocab but I’m having a lot of trouble remembering how those words sound, which can be a big hinderance towards enjoying things like anime or video games.
My personal stance is that if you don’t know how a word sounds, you didn’t really “learn” it. I’d say try to focus on learning the readings of the words you come across, try not to get yourself in the mindset of “I know what this **means** more or less (because RTK) so I don’t need to look it up”. Personally I make sure I can voice out every single word I am reading in my head when I read a book (or manga, or whatever). This is something I do naturally cause I always subvocalize in my head everything I read (even in English/other languages), but I know some people don’t do it naturally so it might be different. I literally cannot avoid doing it unless I focus specifically on NOT doing it (which is mentally exhausting to me).
Initially it helps to read using a tool that can easily help you look up the phonetic spelling of each word/kanji compound you come across. On Kindle you can use a pop-up dictionary, with manga you can read with furigana, on the web you can use yomichan, if you play videogames you should play stuff with voiced dialogues, etc. I think this is very important early on to also get you used to how stuff is supposed to sound in the language. RTK or similar approaches can be useful to some people to get familiar with kanji, but don’t fall into the trap of associating English “meanings” to the symbols because that can easily lead you into complacency and a very incomplete understanding of the language which will backfire later.
How do you currently learn vocabulary? I use Anki and I rate a word as “pass” only if I get both the meaning **and** the reading right. Also, I have sound on the back of the card, so I keep hearing what those words sound like with every rep. Do you do something different from that?
The Kanji Kentei games for the DS are one of the best resources out there for a serious approach on learning the Japanese language. They are available for a hundred yen at most bookoff stores. I use them religiously and have improved ever since.
漢検 study materials or similar (there are some ds games and apps) will force you to drill readings in context. For example 読めないと恥ずかしい漢字 is a free app (comes with a “look up meaning” link too).
You could create something similar in anki, just go word to reading.